Ruger, an 11-year-old Labrador retriever and one half of Southside Independent School District's K-9 unit, has been a constant at Thomas' side, sharing his home and their work conducting drug searches.

“He's my partner,” Thomas said. “We consider him part of the force.”

It's the same with other narcotics detection teams at local school districts — including the few that employ their own dogs: North East, San Antonio, Southside and soon, Northside ISD, which recently decided to get one.

Most districts here have used drug dogs for decades, and most contract with law enforcement agencies or private companies to conduct regular searches. Edgewood ISD currently is one of the few districts that doesn't use a dog, but its board last week discussed contracting with a firm called Worldwide Canine Inc.

Air Force-supplied dogs often search the city's military schools.

The dogs, each partnered with a trained handler, search middle and high school campuses on a semi-monthly basis, sniffing out illegal drugs — most commonly marijuana, officials said.

The frequency with which the dogs get a “hit” and make a bust varies from district to district. North East's dog, Leonard, a 6-year-old Labrador, might get 10 drug or paraphernalia hits in a month, mostly pot. Dogs have visited secondary campuses at the much smaller Southwest ISD some 39 times this school year but found drugs on only three occasions.

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“It's really up to officers how often to search by determining how hard to work the dog,” Thomas said. “If I work Ruger every day for four hours a day, maybe I'll get two to three hits. But it depends on a lot of factors, mainly that of students, of course, deciding to bring drugs that day.”

School district officers say the deterrence effect is as important as any arrest scorecard. The dogs' three main goals are to be “reactive, preventive and proactive,” SAISD officer Charlie Whitlock said.

“We're reactive because we can be called by district officials or other law enforcement agencies to conduct a search, and strive to be preventative because we make unscheduled visits to campuses to perform random sweeps, which can remind students they shouldn't be bringing drugs,” Whitlock said. “But we also like going into schools especially . . . educating kids on the dangers of drugs.”

fvara-orta@express-news.net. This article originally appeared in the March 24 San Antonio Express-News.